Julia De Vere

I produce oil paintings on wood panel. My subject matter is collaged visual hallmarks from old internet aesthetics. By depicting these hallmarks (airbrushing, bokeh, high chroma colours) alongside timeless iconography (portraits, flora and fauna) I aim to rehome simulacrum tethered to the digital canon. My compositions can also involve motifs that reference pop culture or social media ‘in-jokes’. These symbols, phrases and images fall short of collusive in the real world. I include them to highlight the futility of chronic online performance. By reproducing web-borne imagery in the tradition of oil-on-wood, I contrast transience and timelessness. This contradiction seeks to underscore the fragility of cyberspace as an intangible archive, and invite a confrontation of the antithetical infinity and ephemerality of digital content.